US judge orders Hillary Clinton to reply to a lawsuit over 'e-mail scandal'

Washington: A US federal judge has ordered Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to answer written questions from a watchdog group about her use of a private email server when she served as secretary of state.

Such an order was passed by the US District judge Emmet G Sullivan as part of a lawsuit filed against Clinton by Judicial Watch, which had sought permission to question the former secretary of state under oath and in person.

File image of Hillary Clinton. Reuters

This was, however, denied by the court.

Judge Sullivan said the court persuaded that Secretary Clinton's testimony is necessary to enable her to explain on the purpose for the creation and operation of the clintonemail.com system for State Department business.

"We are pleased that this federal court ordered Hillary Clinton to provide written answers under oath to some key questions about her email scandal," said Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton.

"We will move quickly to get these answers. The decision is a reminder that Clinton is not above the law," he said.

The court also asked the state department to release all remaining documents responsive to Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act request by 30 September.

Judicial Watch may serve interrogatories on Clinton by 14 October. Clinton's responses need to be within thirty days, the order said.

"Judicial Watch will get Clinton under oath regarding the set-up of her outlaw server – something no other person, organisation or agency has been able to do, to date. We believe it is a victory for law and order to get Hillary Clinton under oath answering questions about the server setup and why she did it," said Judicial Watch director of investigations Chris Farrell.

The Clinton Campaign said the former secretary of state would answer the questions.

"Judicial Watch is a right-wing organization that has been attacking the Clintons since the 1990s," said Brian Fallon, the spokesman of the Clinton Campaign.

"This is just another lawsuit intended to try to hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign, and so we are glad that the judge has accepted our offer to answer these questions in writing rather than grant Judicial Watch's request," he said.